Introduction
Ascension and Ecclesia
1. Models
2. Marks
Pentecost and Ecclesia
3. Mediation
4. Mission
Parousia and Ecclesia
Notes
Bibliography
Author Index
Scripture Index
An upper-level introduction to the Christian doctrine of the Church.
Matt Jenson is a systematic theologian in the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University, La Mirada, CA. He is the author of The Gravity of Sin: Augustine, Luther and Barth on 'homo incurvatus in se' (T&T Clark, 2007). David Wilhite is a historical theologian (patristics) at George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University, Waco, TX. He is the author of Tertullian the African: An Anthropological Reading of Tertullian's Context and Identities (Walter de Gruyter, 2007).
This is an excellent and much-needed introduction to ecclesiology.
The book is wide-ranging, engaging the most important classical
sources and some of the most interesting contemporary theological
voices. The authors consider ancient controversies and new
movements like the Emerging Church, always steering a steady course
between ecclesiological sloth and ecclesiological pride. This book
is a model for how generous and critical theological conversation
should be conducted.
*William T. Cavanaugh, Senior Research Fellow, Center for World
Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, and Professor of Catholic
Studies, DePaul University, USA*
The Church is indeed a guide - for both the perplexed and the
apoplexed. Jenson and Wilhite offer an important theological tonic
to those for whom "church" connotes scandal or abuse rather than
good news and reconciliation. Writing from their own free church
traditions but for the whole church, they provide a non-partisan
overview of the doctrine of the church that is clear but never
simplistic. They include several well-judged excurses on
particularly important matters (e.g., the question of Jesus'
founding the church, the development of the episcopacy, women's
ordination, and the emerging church). Their main burden, however,
is to weave a positive account of the nature, function, and origin
of the church as the means by which the triune God asserts and
advances the kingdom that arrived in Jesus. This wonderful
collaboration provides further evidence that "wherever two or three
are gathered in Christ's name," Christ is indeed in their
midst.
*Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Blanchard Professor of Theology, Wheaton
College Graduate School,USA*
An important book. The subtitle calls for a thorough survey of the
material. This Matt Jenson and David Wilhite ably provide...with
such creativity and depth of analysis that the book could easily
stand on its own outside this series.
*Church Times*
This is simply a great introduction to the theology of the church,
ecclesiology, that is neither an attempt to justify a particular
conception of the church, nor narrow in its concerns.
*Baptist Times*
Ask a Question About this Product More... |